I wish Linda's sister, Sandy, hadn't called last night. I was happy to talk to her, especially when she told me she read this blog first thing every morning. But later she told Linda that she really hated it that I haven't been posting on weekends. I wish she hadn't said that.
I mean, how can I refuse requests from the audience - especially when you can count them all on both hands? So here I am on Saturday getting ready to blog away. But before I got to the topics at hand, I got an e-mail from my friend Andy who read all my posts from the beginning this week (and then had the nerve to tell me I must have a lot of time on my hands!!!)
Andy commented on what he called my "verbosatility", which I took to mean that I was basically putting the blah-blah-blah in blogging.
So my challenge today is to do a post for Sandy while limiting my verbosatility for Andy. I have decided that I may just do a few bullet points of a few random things I noted this week that didn't have quite enough meat to fill out as full-blown posts:
1) I noticed that when Linda is sorting clothes for the wash, she segregates her underwear from mine. I can understand why she wouldn't even want to go near my underwear, but I am surprised she thinks my underpants may do harm to hers before they get washed.
2) Davy read the blog and noted that the ad running under the clocks was for caskets. I then looked through the rest of the ads they run and saw that they were for estate planning, wills, family counseling and searching for your surname. I think Google is making some assumptions about me.
3) Went to Lily's school play Thursday night. A tedious and otherwise uninspired production was briefly brought to life when a radiant young girl in a blue dress spoke the immortal line to the Lost Boys, "You're acting like bullies!" A star was born that night.
4) Watched Obama's acceptance speech Friday (our time). As someone who used to give speeches competitively (hmmm, there's a sport that even the Olympics rejected), I am in awe of his skills as an orator. Can't say more or my father will stop reading my blog and my audience will shrink by 10%.
5) Andy used the word "verbosatility". Yet I knew what he meant.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
T -33: Simply the Best
Today marks the end of one the greatest journalistic efforts I have known. After more than 12 years, Linda Kennedy this afternoon wrote her final editorial and shipped the final pages of the last issue of CIO Magazine that she will edit.
Much, much more than my own retirement next month, this will significantly affect the great things our company does. I know I ran an article about her from IT Journo a couple of weeks ago, but today I want to add my own thoughts.
As both her husband and the head of the company, I could not be prouder. She led the magazine she founded to more industry awards than any other Australian business publication has ever won, including the only time a publication has been named Business Magazine of the Year in consecutive years by Publishers Australia.
She herself has been named Editor of the Year by two different groups, and she has personally won three awards for her editorial writing. She stopped nominating for awards five years ago because she saw no benefit in winning more and, to be quite honest, she was tired of the way some lesser colleagues envied her achievements.
Until this morning, she was the longest-serving and most successful editor in Australian IT publishing. In our international company, the chairman and owner asked her to head up the global product support center for CIO magazines around the world, which she has done for six years.
I wanted to write a tribute to her in her final issue, but in typical editor fashion she rejected the idea and refused to give me any space in her magazine. "Too much like log-rolling," she said. That's OK. I have this blog.
I am biased, of course. Not only because I am her husband, but because I know how many weekends and nights she has spent reading and researching in order to keep her magazine ahead of the pack. What seems so effortless upon completion is unbelievably hard work, and her involvement in the most minute details of the process meant that the unbelievably hard work was principally hers.
I doubt if any of her colleagues here in Australia even know it, but one of the most remarkable things about Linda's career is that her success has been achieved in relatively few years. She did not enter the workforce until she was in her early 30's, having stayed home to raise Matt and Jay. She didn't start working in media until 1986. Yet by 1990 my predecessor here in Australia had asked her to become editor of PC World magazine, and by 1996 I had asked her to suspend her own successful business and help me out by coming back to launch CIO.
But probably the best tribute I can make is to repeat here one of the many great columns that she wrote, this one in the middle of the great economic downturn following the crash of the dotcom companies. That downturn severely affected all of us in the Information Technology (IT) business, but with her ability to put every problem into perspective and add a large dose of humor, she brought our dramas back to earth. I think you'll see why LK is such a star.
------
WISHING AND HOPING AND PRAYING
February 2002
Well, well, well. A new year and the prognosticators are out in force - even in these pages. Me, I'm a bit more cautious; I like a sure bet. So here's my sole 2002 prediction, and it's a stone-cold winner.
Put two people involved in IT (even if their "involvement" is nothing more than each of them owning a single share of Microsoft stock) together in a room and they'll start conjecturing about when technology spending will resume. Put three IT people in a room and they'll debate when spending will start again. Bring four IT people together and they'll start a PC magazine. But that's okay, because anybody stupid enough to start a PC magazine in the current climate, well, you don't want them working for you. (Joke: put five IT people together and they'll hire Gary Jackson as MD.)
Apparently no one, no where, no how has an iota of an idea as to when the dollars will start flowing once more. Personally I think IT spending will start this year at 2.43pm on July 10, but I've already gone on the record saying I'm making a single prediction here and I'm sticking to my guns. However, I do have an idea that may help kick-start things in its own small way.
Would all of the people, in all of the businesses around Sydney kindly get back to me regarding the quotes I've requested for jobs around my house? If all of you do, I think I'd make quite a decent injection of cash into the economy. Then you all could buy some technology (like a phone, for God's sake!) and that would stimulate more spending, and . . . well, you get the picture.
Look, I know that's a pretty piss-poor concept, but I'm desperate so cut me some slack. My husband's ticked off because after a year in our new house we still don't have curtains in the bedroom. He's tired of getting dressed under the sheets in the morning; it wrinkles his suit.
I'd like to use our spa, but we're waiting (with very sore muscles) for the quote to create a platform and benches for it. We need light fixtures in two remaining rooms, but it appears that every "consultant" coming to the house quits within 24 hours (is it that much of a challenge?). I have a vague memory of traipsing around the yard with someone who looked like a gardener (shorts, boots, dirty fingernails - no, on second thought that was one of the lighting consultants) and discussing grandiose plans (my husband has a thing for running water). Right now, I'd happily rent a goat to clean things up, but doubt if I could get a quote.
You know, maybe this isn't such a bad idea after all - if it's happening to me, it must be happening to some of you. There could be millions of unspent dollars out there, just waiting for a quote. Let's come together and lobby the government for a "Quotation Day". The only problem is that we'd all have to stay home, so there'd be no one to talk to regarding when IT spending will pick up.
Much, much more than my own retirement next month, this will significantly affect the great things our company does. I know I ran an article about her from IT Journo a couple of weeks ago, but today I want to add my own thoughts.
As both her husband and the head of the company, I could not be prouder. She led the magazine she founded to more industry awards than any other Australian business publication has ever won, including the only time a publication has been named Business Magazine of the Year in consecutive years by Publishers Australia.
She herself has been named Editor of the Year by two different groups, and she has personally won three awards for her editorial writing. She stopped nominating for awards five years ago because she saw no benefit in winning more and, to be quite honest, she was tired of the way some lesser colleagues envied her achievements.
Until this morning, she was the longest-serving and most successful editor in Australian IT publishing. In our international company, the chairman and owner asked her to head up the global product support center for CIO magazines around the world, which she has done for six years.
I wanted to write a tribute to her in her final issue, but in typical editor fashion she rejected the idea and refused to give me any space in her magazine. "Too much like log-rolling," she said. That's OK. I have this blog.
I am biased, of course. Not only because I am her husband, but because I know how many weekends and nights she has spent reading and researching in order to keep her magazine ahead of the pack. What seems so effortless upon completion is unbelievably hard work, and her involvement in the most minute details of the process meant that the unbelievably hard work was principally hers.
I doubt if any of her colleagues here in Australia even know it, but one of the most remarkable things about Linda's career is that her success has been achieved in relatively few years. She did not enter the workforce until she was in her early 30's, having stayed home to raise Matt and Jay. She didn't start working in media until 1986. Yet by 1990 my predecessor here in Australia had asked her to become editor of PC World magazine, and by 1996 I had asked her to suspend her own successful business and help me out by coming back to launch CIO.
But probably the best tribute I can make is to repeat here one of the many great columns that she wrote, this one in the middle of the great economic downturn following the crash of the dotcom companies. That downturn severely affected all of us in the Information Technology (IT) business, but with her ability to put every problem into perspective and add a large dose of humor, she brought our dramas back to earth. I think you'll see why LK is such a star.
------
WISHING AND HOPING AND PRAYING
February 2002
Well, well, well. A new year and the prognosticators are out in force - even in these pages. Me, I'm a bit more cautious; I like a sure bet. So here's my sole 2002 prediction, and it's a stone-cold winner.
Put two people involved in IT (even if their "involvement" is nothing more than each of them owning a single share of Microsoft stock) together in a room and they'll start conjecturing about when technology spending will resume. Put three IT people in a room and they'll debate when spending will start again. Bring four IT people together and they'll start a PC magazine. But that's okay, because anybody stupid enough to start a PC magazine in the current climate, well, you don't want them working for you. (Joke: put five IT people together and they'll hire Gary Jackson as MD.)
Apparently no one, no where, no how has an iota of an idea as to when the dollars will start flowing once more. Personally I think IT spending will start this year at 2.43pm on July 10, but I've already gone on the record saying I'm making a single prediction here and I'm sticking to my guns. However, I do have an idea that may help kick-start things in its own small way.
Would all of the people, in all of the businesses around Sydney kindly get back to me regarding the quotes I've requested for jobs around my house? If all of you do, I think I'd make quite a decent injection of cash into the economy. Then you all could buy some technology (like a phone, for God's sake!) and that would stimulate more spending, and . . . well, you get the picture.
Look, I know that's a pretty piss-poor concept, but I'm desperate so cut me some slack. My husband's ticked off because after a year in our new house we still don't have curtains in the bedroom. He's tired of getting dressed under the sheets in the morning; it wrinkles his suit.
I'd like to use our spa, but we're waiting (with very sore muscles) for the quote to create a platform and benches for it. We need light fixtures in two remaining rooms, but it appears that every "consultant" coming to the house quits within 24 hours (is it that much of a challenge?). I have a vague memory of traipsing around the yard with someone who looked like a gardener (shorts, boots, dirty fingernails - no, on second thought that was one of the lighting consultants) and discussing grandiose plans (my husband has a thing for running water). Right now, I'd happily rent a goat to clean things up, but doubt if I could get a quote.
You know, maybe this isn't such a bad idea after all - if it's happening to me, it must be happening to some of you. There could be millions of unspent dollars out there, just waiting for a quote. Let's come together and lobby the government for a "Quotation Day". The only problem is that we'd all have to stay home, so there'd be no one to talk to regarding when IT spending will pick up.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
T - 34: Bronze to New Zealand
I mentioned my company awards yesterday, but to be fair and balanced I need to mention a few of my less wonderful efforts.
There was, for example the launch of Computer Living Magazine. I could tell you how we set a local industry record by printing a million launch copies, but how the magazine never sold more than 20,000 copies a month. I could even tell you that I may have been just a little naive to be influenced to do this by our partner who - not surprisingly - ran the printing plant. Or I can just tell you about the time the owner of our company and I were alone in an elevator about two years after we had closed the magazine. He looked at me and smiled. "Computer Living," he said. "Don, we think of that as your million dollar training program."
Another open-and-shut case was the Australian edition of The Industry Standard, a newspaper about the Internet industry that we managed to launch the same week that the dot-com companies collapsed on Wall Street. This publication holds the distinction of spending more on its launch party than it made as a title.
I could mention the millions we lost on the launch of Australian Biotechnology News or the Home Entertainment Show or even my first-ever magazine launch named Profit - which, of course, never made one.
But these failed efforts are just dim memories. If I am to write about my biggest failures, there is one light that shines dimly atop the scrapheap of my career. And that was when I took over our operations in New Zealand.
Desperately in loss for several years, the NZ company was in danger of being closed if it didn't turn around quickly. "I'll save them," I said in my most heroic voice, and I took the Kiwis under my wing and merged them into our Australian business.
Thinking of myself more or less as Saint Donald of Sydney, I went to convert the Shaky Islanders to profitable capitalism. Regrettably, the natives more or less thought of me as an arrogant, power-grabbing, fat bastard interloper who didn't know half as much as they did about their business.
They were convinced my emphasis on profits would rip the heart out of their company and ruin the great business they were running. I soon concluded that they could not win a bronze medal in a two-horse race.
Well, no one needs the gory details. Suffice it to say that there are now only a few Kiwis whom I like and surely even fewer who like me. And of course the land of the All Blacks produced a company whose ink was All Red. At least I now understand how appropriate it is that New Zealand is home to more flightless birds than any other place.
As a footnote - if the true test of a person is to make lemonade out of life's lemons, I guess I ended up passing this exam. Rather than close the NZ operations, I started the discussions that led our chief Australian competitor to acquire them. It had no effect on our local business, but it has given me a warm feeling to know that Cloud Cuckooland is now their problem. From what I hear, they're not in the mood to thank me.
There was, for example the launch of Computer Living Magazine. I could tell you how we set a local industry record by printing a million launch copies, but how the magazine never sold more than 20,000 copies a month. I could even tell you that I may have been just a little naive to be influenced to do this by our partner who - not surprisingly - ran the printing plant. Or I can just tell you about the time the owner of our company and I were alone in an elevator about two years after we had closed the magazine. He looked at me and smiled. "Computer Living," he said. "Don, we think of that as your million dollar training program."
Another open-and-shut case was the Australian edition of The Industry Standard, a newspaper about the Internet industry that we managed to launch the same week that the dot-com companies collapsed on Wall Street. This publication holds the distinction of spending more on its launch party than it made as a title.
I could mention the millions we lost on the launch of Australian Biotechnology News or the Home Entertainment Show or even my first-ever magazine launch named Profit - which, of course, never made one.
But these failed efforts are just dim memories. If I am to write about my biggest failures, there is one light that shines dimly atop the scrapheap of my career. And that was when I took over our operations in New Zealand.
Desperately in loss for several years, the NZ company was in danger of being closed if it didn't turn around quickly. "I'll save them," I said in my most heroic voice, and I took the Kiwis under my wing and merged them into our Australian business.
Thinking of myself more or less as Saint Donald of Sydney, I went to convert the Shaky Islanders to profitable capitalism. Regrettably, the natives more or less thought of me as an arrogant, power-grabbing, fat bastard interloper who didn't know half as much as they did about their business.
They were convinced my emphasis on profits would rip the heart out of their company and ruin the great business they were running. I soon concluded that they could not win a bronze medal in a two-horse race.
Well, no one needs the gory details. Suffice it to say that there are now only a few Kiwis whom I like and surely even fewer who like me. And of course the land of the All Blacks produced a company whose ink was All Red. At least I now understand how appropriate it is that New Zealand is home to more flightless birds than any other place.
As a footnote - if the true test of a person is to make lemonade out of life's lemons, I guess I ended up passing this exam. Rather than close the NZ operations, I started the discussions that led our chief Australian competitor to acquire them. It had no effect on our local business, but it has given me a warm feeling to know that Cloud Cuckooland is now their problem. From what I hear, they're not in the mood to thank me.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
T - 35: Hi-Yo Silver! Away!
I have begun to clear out my office. Yesterday I threw away dozens of reports that seemed critical to keep at one time and were useless now. I saved some end-of-year company reports from 1991 through last year in case Davy, my successor, ever wants some historical perspective on the job. However, I am pretty sure that this attention to the past only happens when you're close to retirement.
When I started to clear out the bookcase on the far wall that I never use, I was hit with some real dilemmas. There were lots of the things that the company has given me over the years - all stamped with the logo, all bearing testament to something or other that happened ages ago but which I no longer recall. Some were mementos of meetings, like "Worldwide Managers Meeting, 1995", but I don't even remember which city we were in that year. Frankly, not having any idea where we were or who was there lessens the sentimental value just a bit.
Several of the items were awards the company gave me. I have pictures of me receiving some of the inscribed silver plates, and from the look on my face I am pretty sure I was incredibly happy to receive them. But now I look at the inscriptions - things like "Greatest Increase in Paid Circulation" - and I do not even remember which magazine that was for. More than that, I know this is not one of the defining accomplishments I will want to recall in my retirement. Lily is not likely think her grandfather was great because he sold more subscriptions than anyone else in 1992.
I have seven silver plates. I have those glass things with etched stuff inside them. I have a silver pitcher, a crystal globe, a Cross pen-and-pencil set in a marble base. Linda and I are in the process of reducing the stuff we own, and here comes all this stuff from the office. What do I do with them?
Obviously, the seven silver plates won't even make a complete setting for dinner. More than that, I don't know if our guests would be impressed or put off by having their main course set on a plate reading "Highest Profit Margin" or "Greatest Increase in Online Visitors". There's the other problem that somewhere around 2007 the company downsized its awards, so the last couple of plates don't even match the first five.
Anyhow, back to my dilemma. Do I create a little post-work shrine to my accomplishments and company memories and visit it on days when I don't feel important anymore? Do I see if anyone on eBay will pay good money for a silver plate reading "Highest Percentage Growth in Profits"? Would the glass globe and star and boat sell at a garage sale? Should I stash it all in a box and put it in storage, and let the kids figure out what to do when I finally kick the bucket? A silver plate to the best suggestion!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
T - 36: Gold! Gold! Gold!
I had lunch with my friend Jon today. He reads this blog, and he told me he was surprised I hadn't written anything about the Olympics. Figuring this blog has an audience of about, oh, four or five, that means Jon represents at least 20% of my audience. I guess I had better write something about the Olympics even though they are now over.
I hadn't written about the Olympics because I really wasn't into them very much this year. Oh sure, it was impossible to ignore them completely. I did check out Australia vs Montenegro in water polo, the finals of team rhythmic gymnastics (loved the ribbons, Ukraine) and women's taikwondo (heavyweight division), but apparently that barely qualified me for the minnow division of Olympic viewers.
We had some people in the office who kept running off to the boardroom to sneak a peek at whatever was on the TV. I only went once during the work day - to watch one of Michael Phelps' later races - and I really didn't watch much more at home.
Some of this was due to Linda's decision that reruns of last year's Masterchef competition were more intereresting than greco-roman wrestling, rifle shooting or archery. It's tough to get some women to develop an interest in sport.
The main reason I didn't watch much, though, was that most of the Olympic sports really are pretty boring. There's a good reason I didn't set my recorder to capture the latest matches in field hockey, badminton, trampoline or handball. And those are, at least, more interesting than such sports as weightlifting, yachting and whatever they call that bicycle race where the two contestants try to go as slow as they can for most of the race. Actually, I like that last one because I am pretty sure it is one of the few Olympic sports where I could be competitive for at least the first half of the race. Assuming I didn't fall over.
This does raise a good point. As we Boomers grow older, we need to start lobbying for the inclusion of sports in which we can excel. The modern biathlon - lawn bowling and 10-pin bowling - would be a winner. Or how about a new pentathlon - sudoku, bridge, no-limit Texas hold-em, Scrabble and freestlye standing still. If it came down to an Aussie versus Yank for the gold, I don't even know whom I'd cheer for, but I know I'd watch it.
Monday, August 25, 2008
T - 37 The List Grows Longer
Today is Monday. Two weeks ago I vowed that on every Monday until I stop working I will write a list of five things I will do when I retire. I know one thing I will not do when I retire. I will NOT promise to do lists every Monday.
It seemed easy enough when I started out. But even in the beginning I screwed up. I figured I would have to come up with 30 things (5 x 6 Mondays), but somehow I miscounted what were actually eight Mondays. So it's 40 things I need to come up with. The problem is that after only 10, I am already asking people to suggest things to add to the list.
Linda thinks the list should include clipping my toenails every week. Given the scars on her calves, I can understand why she feels that way, but that isn't really the sort of list I was thinking of putting together.
My father, with his 80+ years of wisdom, suggested that I have a bowel movement every day. Again, that isn't exactly the sort of list I was thinking about. And in fact if Linda keeps putting jalapenos in our food, the challenge will be to have only one each day,
Despite the less than lofty ideas being put forward by my family, I will today soldier on and add five more items to the list. Since much of what I want to do with my time in retirement is to write books, today's list will be five things I will research and learn more about as I investigate topics for my writing.
1. The Cracks in the World.
Ever since Linda and I read Simon Winchester's "Crack In the Edge of the World" and "Krakatoa", we have been smitten with the idea of checking out the places where the earth's fault lines exist. At first, I thought this was just Linda's excuse to visit San Francisco, but she's definitely into checking out Iceland, Indonesia and other geological hot spots. I am, too. It might make an interesting travel book.
2. Teachers
I am probably prejudiced because I studied to be a teacher and loved doing it. Everyone feels teachers are the key to our children's futures, and yet with crappy pay and weirdly run school systems, we do nothing to attract our brightest university students. I think it would be worth figuring out what is going on and what we can do to fix it. It will also be interesting to see if there are significant differences between US and Australian systems.
3. Cousins
I have something like 50 first cousins. Most of that number are from the Kennedy clan. Thank God my mother's side were Protestants, or I could have had 100 cousins, I suppose. For years I have thought how interesting it would be to put together profiles of each of them and get a sense of how my generation developed and how we changed the family of which we were a (very) large part.
4. True Crime
There are some interesting crime stories here in Australia that may or may not be worth researching. I am a sucker for stories about swindlers and con men and Australia always has been home to lots of such people. As interesting as the best true crime books can be, I am just not sure that's where I want to spend my time.
5. Facebook
This is actually research for a paperless work of fiction I am thinking about. I can see setting a story in an online social network, where the only way you can get the full picture is to drill through the web sites of the various characters. To do that, though, I will have to learn Facebook. It may sound simple, but suffice it to say that I signed up a couple of weeks ago to the site dedicated to networking with friends, and I have signed up only one friend, Megan. And until she noticed I was there, I am pretty sure I was setting a record as the least sociable social networker in the history of the site.
Like so much of my life, I seem to have got it twisted around the wrong way. Most people hope to write a best-selling book so they can retire. I hope to retire so I can write a book - admittedly, not likely to be a best seller.
It seemed easy enough when I started out. But even in the beginning I screwed up. I figured I would have to come up with 30 things (5 x 6 Mondays), but somehow I miscounted what were actually eight Mondays. So it's 40 things I need to come up with. The problem is that after only 10, I am already asking people to suggest things to add to the list.
Linda thinks the list should include clipping my toenails every week. Given the scars on her calves, I can understand why she feels that way, but that isn't really the sort of list I was thinking of putting together.
My father, with his 80+ years of wisdom, suggested that I have a bowel movement every day. Again, that isn't exactly the sort of list I was thinking about. And in fact if Linda keeps putting jalapenos in our food, the challenge will be to have only one each day,
Despite the less than lofty ideas being put forward by my family, I will today soldier on and add five more items to the list. Since much of what I want to do with my time in retirement is to write books, today's list will be five things I will research and learn more about as I investigate topics for my writing.
1. The Cracks in the World.
Ever since Linda and I read Simon Winchester's "Crack In the Edge of the World" and "Krakatoa", we have been smitten with the idea of checking out the places where the earth's fault lines exist. At first, I thought this was just Linda's excuse to visit San Francisco, but she's definitely into checking out Iceland, Indonesia and other geological hot spots. I am, too. It might make an interesting travel book.
2. Teachers
I am probably prejudiced because I studied to be a teacher and loved doing it. Everyone feels teachers are the key to our children's futures, and yet with crappy pay and weirdly run school systems, we do nothing to attract our brightest university students. I think it would be worth figuring out what is going on and what we can do to fix it. It will also be interesting to see if there are significant differences between US and Australian systems.
3. Cousins
I have something like 50 first cousins. Most of that number are from the Kennedy clan. Thank God my mother's side were Protestants, or I could have had 100 cousins, I suppose. For years I have thought how interesting it would be to put together profiles of each of them and get a sense of how my generation developed and how we changed the family of which we were a (very) large part.
4. True Crime
There are some interesting crime stories here in Australia that may or may not be worth researching. I am a sucker for stories about swindlers and con men and Australia always has been home to lots of such people. As interesting as the best true crime books can be, I am just not sure that's where I want to spend my time.
5. Facebook
This is actually research for a paperless work of fiction I am thinking about. I can see setting a story in an online social network, where the only way you can get the full picture is to drill through the web sites of the various characters. To do that, though, I will have to learn Facebook. It may sound simple, but suffice it to say that I signed up a couple of weeks ago to the site dedicated to networking with friends, and I have signed up only one friend, Megan. And until she noticed I was there, I am pretty sure I was setting a record as the least sociable social networker in the history of the site.
Like so much of my life, I seem to have got it twisted around the wrong way. Most people hope to write a best-selling book so they can retire. I hope to retire so I can write a book - admittedly, not likely to be a best seller.
Friday, August 22, 2008
T - 40: No Escape from Reality
The show Alan Sugar was on is the UK version of The Apprentice. It says something about Linda and me that A) we watch the show religiously and B) we are quite adamant that Sugar is vastly superior to Donald Trump, who started the series in the US.
We hope for the worst for the villain-like contestants, and like wrestling fans cheer if they get their just rewards at the end of a show and fret if they somehow squirm off the hook and one of the good guys gets the flick.
In fact, the good guys on this show aren't all that likeable. They're the aggressive, self-centered sales and marketing types from Britain who, in real life, we have worked with too much and don't like at all. But, much like most political elections, you end up picking the best of a bad lot, and once you do that you end up cheering them on as if they were wearing your family's crest on the back of their jacket.
Actually, The Apprentice is a bit of a variation for us. I think you will notice a trend among our other favorite shows.
We love Masterchef, the BBC cooking reality show. We won't miss an episode of Hell's Kitchen, Gordon Ramsey's cooking reality show. We are addicted to Top Chef, the US cooking reality show. Probably no surprise to know that, when it was airing, we were pretty well hooked on The Next Food Network Star, a cooking reality show.
We didn't care all that much for Kitchen Criminals, another British cooking reality show, but we watched it faithfully anyhow. By the end, we were really hoping that Laura, the lapdancer from Liverpool, would impress the judges and change her life from working the tables, so to speak, to running the kitchen. Alas, Harj, the doctor, beat her on the day. We're pretty sure it was Laura's salmon ravioli that did her in.
Which really goes to show how crazy it is to be watching these shows and convincing yourself that one contestant is a much better cook than another. They call them reality shows, but the truth is the audience can't really taste the food. The fact that we decide one is better than another must surely be a testament to either the cleverness of the TV producers or the complete gullibility of their audience. Apparently, the proof of the pudding is in the viewing.
Mind you, this probably makes it seem that all we do is watch cooking reality shows and the odd episode of The Apprentice. Nothing could be further from the truth. Next Tuesday we're down to six girls on America's Next Top Model. I think the tall model is a lock to win it all.
We hope for the worst for the villain-like contestants, and like wrestling fans cheer if they get their just rewards at the end of a show and fret if they somehow squirm off the hook and one of the good guys gets the flick.
In fact, the good guys on this show aren't all that likeable. They're the aggressive, self-centered sales and marketing types from Britain who, in real life, we have worked with too much and don't like at all. But, much like most political elections, you end up picking the best of a bad lot, and once you do that you end up cheering them on as if they were wearing your family's crest on the back of their jacket.
Actually, The Apprentice is a bit of a variation for us. I think you will notice a trend among our other favorite shows.
We love Masterchef, the BBC cooking reality show. We won't miss an episode of Hell's Kitchen, Gordon Ramsey's cooking reality show. We are addicted to Top Chef, the US cooking reality show. Probably no surprise to know that, when it was airing, we were pretty well hooked on The Next Food Network Star, a cooking reality show.
We didn't care all that much for Kitchen Criminals, another British cooking reality show, but we watched it faithfully anyhow. By the end, we were really hoping that Laura, the lapdancer from Liverpool, would impress the judges and change her life from working the tables, so to speak, to running the kitchen. Alas, Harj, the doctor, beat her on the day. We're pretty sure it was Laura's salmon ravioli that did her in.
Which really goes to show how crazy it is to be watching these shows and convincing yourself that one contestant is a much better cook than another. They call them reality shows, but the truth is the audience can't really taste the food. The fact that we decide one is better than another must surely be a testament to either the cleverness of the TV producers or the complete gullibility of their audience. Apparently, the proof of the pudding is in the viewing.
Mind you, this probably makes it seem that all we do is watch cooking reality shows and the odd episode of The Apprentice. Nothing could be further from the truth. Next Tuesday we're down to six girls on America's Next Top Model. I think the tall model is a lock to win it all.
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